Looking on the Bright Side

I can feel depression's claws trying to dig their way into my brain again. So I'm resisting. First, we have good news:

Somebody awesome dropped off gifts for Christmas at our front door, knocked on the door, and ran before I could find out who it was. They were very nice gifts, too.

Monday my family and I were supposed to drive to meet up with my siblings an hour away from home, but there was a huge snowstorm forecasted for Monday. So we packed up really quickly and headed out Sunday night to beat the storm. We avoided the storm, we were able to stay for free in a nice apartment owned by my sister-in-law's parents, and made it to take pictures with my siblings on time. I got to see my brother and his wife for the first time in 18 months, along with my brand new niece and nephew. Also, our formal pictures turned out really well, despite some potential hiccups solved by my sister-in-law's quick thinking.

My brother relayed some bad news about my dad's health, but if anyone can help him, it's my mom and brother. I'm suddenly really glad my brother's studying medicine.

Christmas eve and Christmas day were both really fun. We had relaxed days at my husband's parents' house, and we got spoiled rotten. I got a breadmaker, which I'm excited about. Now I can make my own bread, which is good because bread's gotten expensive to buy and you can't really store loaves of bread for times of emergency. Also, it has a cinnamon roll setting/recipe.

I'm glad we have food, warmth, shelter, and a support group for when we get hit with big snowstorms. Last night there was too much snow, and my husband couldn't get the car home. So he parked it in a gas station parking lot and walked the rest of the way home. Today we found out they'd towed our car. My husband is upset, but his parents were available to pick him up and give him a ride to work. We have enough money to get our car returned (assuming the towing company ever picks up the phone or returns our calls). I don't have a pressing need to go anywhere today because my house has enough food for the weekend.

The news has been pretty awful lately. People buried in avalanches, people dressing up as Santa and going on murderous rampages, people cheating others out of money. But there are also stories of people surviving being buried in snow for days, people helping strangers avoid forclosure, people doing smaller acts of service like whoever put presents on our door. I really want to find something nice to do for somebody, soon.

So I guess my conclusion is that for me and my life, I have more cause to celebrate than to despair. And I have the opportunity to brighten someone else's day, too. I hope everyone has a good day and remembers to look on the bright side and see what has gone right out of things that could have gone bad and be thankful for what we have.